Media Action Nepal demands action against those responsible for threatening the reporter
MEDIA ACTION NEPAL/January 4: Media Action Nepal has condemned the act of threatening Jiya Lal Sah, Sidhakura.com Parsa district correspondent for merely reporting. Sah has been harassed by unknown callers for writing news.
“We call on the authorities to take swift action against those responsible,” stated Laxman Datt Pant, Founding Chair & Executive Director of Media Action Nepal.
On January 2, Sah published a report titled Jaiswal brothers with criminal backgrounds welcoming Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Sidhakura. Following that, Sah has been bullied and trolled online, receiving derogatory messages via phone and social media.
Sah told Media Action Nepal that he received threats through a WhatsApp call. “They have threatened to smear my photo on social media and anywhere else they can find me,” he said.
Sah said that the identity of the person who called him and threatened him has not been revealed. “I informed the cops orally. Police responded that they would not leave such people,” he told Media Action Nepal. “It was already late to go to the police to file a written complaint, so I would do that on Sunday since Saturday is a holiday.”
Police confirmed with Media Action Nepal that a written case has not been filed. Sah wrote a news story about CPN-UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli’s visit to Parsa on December 29 and the induction of a criminal into the UML.
According to the news story, Pramod Kumar Jaiswal, the Madhesh government’s Sports and Social Welfare Minister, is still facing murder charges despite having posted an Rs 150,000 bail.
